U-Turn
by Nangbaby
Summary: A power outage presents Hawk Moth with an opportunity to akumatize a victim, but an unexpected reaction could cause a turnabout in the path of the charged butterfly. Will the dark-winged herald trigger a metamorphosis? Will Hawk Moth's ambitions be deterred? Pointless One-shot.


Annette closed her apartment door with a weary shove and kicked her shoes off onto the little rug by her entrance. She sauntered with staggering steps and swollen feet that were assuaged by the cool, hardwood floors. It had been a long day at the office, answering people at the window, moving boxes, and all the joys of clerical duty. She made her way to the shower room and took care of the business of swapping her business suit, blouse, and dressy undergarments for an oversized T-shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants. Her long hair, wrapped in a bun, was now covered with a hair bonnet.

She was comfortable, but she could feel the urge at the pit of her stomach to completely unfurl. It would be so easy to give into reckless abandon and unwind, to remove even these clothes and relax all inhibitions. But it wasn't time, at least not tonight, for untamed foolishness. She was hungry, and if she wanted to get something to eat, she would have to at least prepare her own food.

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out two thawed meat patties on a tray and set the tray on her counter. It would only take a few minutes to grill these burgers, one for tonight, and the other for her lunch tomorrow. She pulled out a cast iron skillet and placed it on the burner of the electric stove, then took a bottle of oil and drizzled the pan in a quick dab. She extended her hand to the knob to turn on the burner. Before she could touch it, a pop threw her and the apartment into complete darkness.

She bit her tongue and counted to ten, hoping the power outage was a blip. When the power had not come back on after she finished the count, a growing ringing in her ears accompanied her rising blood pressure.

* * *

The dark blue sky illuminated the white butterflies of the atrium, and pale, incomplete moonlight swallowed their masked caretaker. Hawk Moth usually did not operate at night, as most of the rises of emotion happened in the day. It was the day that was stressful, full of arguments and confrontations. Night was the time of home and relief.

Except not tonight.

"Ah, so the power goes out just as a hungry resident was about to make her dinner," he commented, summoning one of the white butterflies. It landed in his hand, and he carefully cradled it with both hands, filling it with the necessary energy. "It's time to make her heart just as dark as her surroundings."

In turn, he released the butterfly, which now was darker than the night sky.

"Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her!" he shouted.

The akuma wafted towards the opening and into the dark expanse. With the cover of darkness, the akuma would be have an easier approach to its target than usual. Hawk Moth began to formulate names in his mind and powers for her to possess. Then he would get the Miraculous of both Ladybug and Cat Noir.

* * *

Annette breathed in heavily and breathed out heavily as she braced herself against the wall. To stave off the deep shadows of her surroundings, she had visualized the tower of stacked blocks in her mind, mentally placing the rocks one after another to an endless pillar. It helped prevent her losing the image of herself in her mind. She was not going to let panicked instinct loose in her body. She was going to hold out for just a few more days. Her emotions were not going to run wild.

_Flap. Flap._

It was a sound that she should not have heard that made her heart race. The noise of a nearing black butterfly startled her, toppling the tower of self-control she built in her mind.

She didn't recognize the obscured butterfly, but its immediate presence in her apartment knocked her mind-off center and soon her body was similarly knocked on the floor. Her insides shook as she pressed her hands and feet against the floor, a feeling that quickly became more comfortable than standing upright.

She pushed off her pants and felt her bloomers slide as her legs and hips shrunk, and as her stomach and chest pushed inward she bent forward to allow the shirt and bonnet atop her head to slip off. With the freedom of nudity her back stretched. A burning, jutting sensation bolted from her tailbone, which inverted itself, pulling itself out of the skin and extending as a new limb.

Her hair had retreated partly into her skull and unfurled, as an excess of hair sprouted over the rest of body. Her skin sagged ever do slightly, no longer too tight on a body that was no longer on two legs.. Her jaw stretched and the spaces between her teeth widened as each tooth sharpened. The space above her lip moistened and merged with the end of her nose. Her ear muscles burned as they burst to life and twitched as her flat ears tapered into cups. The brushing of gum against gum with separated teeth. The water that had pooled around her ankles seeped through her rear and front paw pads, and the burst of heat faded.

In mere seconds she could hear better as the ringing faded the sound was more rich. She could smell better as the meat on the counter called to her. Most of all she felt better as all the effort of trying to stay in human form evaporated. Her tail wagged in blooming enthusiasm. It didn't matter that the full moon was in a few days. The time for her change had come now. It was too nerve-racking to stay human.

The butterfly slowed in mid-air almost as if it had been confused by a transformation it did not induce, and changed its trajectory. Beginning a turn, it was no longer approaching a creature that was human shaped or abound with negative emotions.

To the now bestial Annette, the akuma was just a flying, beautiful, miniature angel of darkness. She crawled towards it out of innocent curiosity, all of those human problems from less than a minute ago seeming so distant. Instead the butterfly completed its arc and flapped away from the wolf. The instinct to chase overshadowed her and bid her to follow the flying bug, but the akuma fluttered upward and away, as if tossed by a repelling wind. Annette crawled after it as it headed for the open window, but stopped well before the balcony.

Instead her nose led her to back to the kitchen Annette retreated lifted her fore paws of the ground and placed them on the counter. She put her muzzle into one of the discuses of raw meat on the counter and gulped it down, then did the same to its twin. It was so much easier to eat like this, and with the power out, there were no nosy neighbors to spy on her snacking.

And the butterfly exited the dark apartment, furiously distancing itself from the euphoria of consuming a long-denied meal.

* * *

Hawk Moth grunted in frustration. He had been so close to his target he could almost hear himself speak the name he had settled on - _Forager_.

His intended victim had tired and hungry, as were many people of the city, but her anger had skyrocketed suddenly, luring the akuma to her burning ire.

Then, at the precise moment the akuma met his target, a sudden succession of relief, merriment, and finally satisfied desire made sure the butterfly fled and would not return. Rarely could a mood shift so completely that quickly, and rarer still was it just before the point of contact. Even those few who were happy to see a butterfly were still full of bitterness and hate. It was as if her mind completely changed.

He mentally waved off his concern. Surely there were others in the area who would serve his needs. Nearby on the ground he felt a surge of emotion from two figures, one with an incredible hunger that needed to be filled, and another figure radiating an intense fear from being pursued. Either of them would make suitable targets for his akuma, which descended towards the pair. There were too many things that went bump in the night for him to fail for long.


End file.
